Kim DeLong, 42
Title Executive director
Employer Family Matters
Salary $40,000-$75,000
Q. What does your organization do?
A. Family Matters works with the children and the families in the neighborhood north of Howard Street in Chicago. Our focus is on leadership development and community building through programs that celebrate our gifts and talents
Q. What is your educational background?
A. I attended Acadia Divinity College in Nova Scotia, where I completed my master’s of divinity degree. I moved to Chicago in 1983 to take part in a one-year training program, which for me included working as pastor at the Jonquil Hotel. I came with the intention of moving back to Canada and being pastor of a church in Vancouver. Instead I stayed and worked there for three more years. I was ordained in 1986.
Q. How did you get into the field?
A. Having worked at the Jonquil I really got to know the neighborhood and I fell in love with the people. I grew up in a small farming community. The church was the center of community life, and I really loved working with people. I had friends my age to 92. Here I found that in a large city. They became my community. I wanted to share in their lives and grow with them, to create an organization that celebrated gifts and talents and fostered our sense of community.
Q. What’s the best thing about your job?
A. I work with the most effective, dedicated and wise people on face of the Earth. It is truly a joy to be able to share ideas and resources in a supportive environment with my board, the staff and the families. I work in an environment that supports open communication, honesty and challenge in a way that is affirming. The climate encourages us to spread our wings and be more than we dreamed possible.
Q. What’s the worst thing?
A. It’s always challenging working for a not-for-profit organization because you have to balance the mission with the necessity to raise money. I just want to do the work.
Q. What three attributes are essential to doing your job well?
A. First, the key is to understand where your gifts are and to ensure that others within the organization had the other gifts required to maintain a balance. Second, a commitment to believe in the work. Finally, it is to believe in the power of community because . . . that’s what makes it all possible. It’s standing side by side with my neighbors laughing and sweating together as we built a park so that the children would have a place to play–that was one of the happiest days of my life. I lugged mulch in my bare feet and after 12 hours we saw a park go up before our very eyes. It was pure joy.
Q. What advice would you give someone interested in this area of work?
A. Ask `What is it that excites you about social work? What are your concerns? The same applies to the ministry. If someone asked about combining both, then we would explore together all the avenues, opportunities and possibilities to make it a reality.
